Days before the general election, former HDZ ministers will testify at the trial of imprisoned former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
Just four days before the parliamentary elections, members of the inner cabinet of former Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader – Ivan Šuker, Gordan Jandroković, Damir Polančec and Božo Biškupić – will testify at the Zagreb County Court at the trial of Sanader in the Planinska case. Sanader’s defence attorneys have asked the Court to call them as witnesses at the trial in which the former prime minister is accused of receiving 17 million kuna after the Ministry of Regional Development bought a building from a former HDZ member of parliament Stjepan Fiolić, reports Index.hr on October 22, 2015.
Sanader’s lawyer Jadranka Sloković said it needs to be clarified whether the former prime minister in any way influenced or put pressure on his colleagues to make the decision about buying the building in Planinska Street. The defence has put forward a number of other proposals, including that Šuker as Sanader’s finance minister should be questioned about why he agreed with the purchase of the building.
The prosecutors have said that the testimony of Sanader’s former closest associates was irrelevant. They believe that the circumstances have been established during the evidentiary proceedings, which included the review of the transcript of the inner cabinet session.
The defence objected to the prosecutors’ view. “Sanader was not even present at the meeting when the decision on the purchase of the building was made. People who were present should be questioned as a key element to determine whether a criminal offense has been committed”, Sanader’s lawyer Jadranka Sloković said.
The story about Sanader’s multi-million bribe, which he allegedly took in a box of sausages, was first told by Fiolić himself, who is also accused in the case. In addition to Fiolić, guilt has been admitted by former minister Petar Čobanković as well, but he made a plea bargain with the prosecution and has already been sentenced to community service.
In addition to Sanader and Fiolić, one of the defendants is Mladen Mlinarević, whose company Inžinjerski Biro has allegedly doubled the value of the property before it was purchased by Čobanković’s Ministry.
